Pushing Back Against Economic Crisis, Youth Unrest Ripples Around World

Pushing Back Against Economic Crisis, Youth Unrest Ripples Around World

Has anyone noticed that new unemployment claims just climbed by 51,000 to 454,000? Maybe we're tired of being reminded about the jobless rate. It was politely ignored in President Obama's State of the Union Address, even as he promised to boost opportunities for the next generation.

The number of unemployed stood at 205 million in 2010, essentially unchanged from the year earlier... with little hope for this figure to revert to pre-crisis levels in the near term.

The ranks of the jobless include some 78 million young people worldwide, a rate of 12.6 percent. That's a slight decline from the previous year but millions more than the 2007 levels. And since the data suggests "discouragement among youth has risen sharply," there is also the untold shadow number of youth who've simply fallen out of the workforce.

current estimates for 2010 show a level of unemployment at 10.3 per cent, which is the highest regional rate in the world. The youth unemployment rate is almost four times the adult rate. Gender inequalities continue to be a major concern, as the gap between male and female employment-to-population ratios, at 47.2 percentage points, is twice the global average. Economic growth in 2011 is projected at 5.1 per cent, falling short of precrisis trends, with little change expected in the region's unemployment rate.

Although North Africa didn't suffer as much as other regions in the recession, the data depicts a deep long-term slump:

An alarming 23.6 per cent of economically active young people were unemployed in 2010. Productivity growth continues to be sluggish and leaves little scope for increases in wages and salaries or for progress in expanding social protection systems.

The Brookings Institution last year described a so-called youth "unemployment paradox," in which declining unemployment "is paradoxically associated with a deterioration of job quality rather than any major improvement in labor market conditions." It drew a striking comparison between the widespread youth joblessness Egypt and the United States:

The United States arrives at this juncture as a result of the worst economic recession in 70 years. Underemployment in Egypt, on the other hand, stems from a rapidly growing youth population faced with the consequences of a partial and fragmented transformation of the economy from a state-led to a market-oriented development model....

In all likelihood, the U.S. economy will resume its growth and will eventually start creating new jobs, but the high cost of health care and continued economic uncertainty may significantly slow the creation of good jobs. Like young Egyptians, young Americans may have to reduce their expectations about the quality of jobs they expect to attain in this current market and hope to upgrade over time.

What the report didn't predict, however, was a more radical reaction. The explosion of protest in Cairo shows that young people can only be forced to reduce their expectations so much, before they start pushing back and demanding revolution.

The popular uprisings obviously aren't just a response to unemployment; they're a revolt against corrupt authoritarian government, uneven development, and social disenfranchisement. And, countering Western stereotypes of "religious fundamentalism," what we've witnessed in several Arab countries reflects a secular, democratically structured youth movement driven primarily by a desire for meaningful work and economic citizenship.

made it clear that political opposition parties, long defunct and impotent, have been replaced by grassroots social action. Their fears of detention and torture have been supplanted by the need for better living conditions and better wages.

To help workers cope with the global crisis, the ILO urges governments to focus on creating quality jobs and strengthening social protections, instead of merely obsessing over deficits.

Echoing Brookings's warnings about long-term decline in job quality, ILO Director-General Juan Somavia argued, "We must not forget that for people the quality of work defines the quality of a society,"

The U.S. isn't yet on the cusp of a social breakdown, but its youth are moving into an era of unprecedented frustration. How long before they tire of letting their hopes suffocate-and join their peers around the world to organize and shake up the status quo?

Michelle Chen is a contributing editor at In These Times. She is a regular contributor to the labor rights blog Working In These Times, Colorlines.com, and Pacifica's WBAI. Her work has also appeared in Common Dreams, Alternet, Ms. Magazine, Newsday, and her old zine, cain.

Further

Academics are increasingly, ingeniously fighting back against an Orwellian "Professor Watchlist" aimed at exposing "radical" teachers. The list has inspired online trolls to name their own suspects - Albus Dumbledore, Dr. Pepper, Mr. Spock - and a Watchlist Redux to honor not trash targets from Jesus to teachers daring to "think critically about power." Now 100 Notre Dame profs have asked to join the list in solidarity, proclaiming, "We wish to be counted among those you are watching."